The Bug King
by Jason Gray
Summary: After a beautiful vacation on Pyrovillia, the Doctor and Clara are heading back to present day Shoreditch so Clara can keep a date with Danny. On the way they encounter The Bug King. A malevolent being made of pure energy who uses insects to interact with objects and people. The Bug King's intent? Steal the Tardis and bring his "children" to as many worlds as possible to feed.


"We're safe", The Doctor held his hand against his hearts and let out an exasperated sigh.

The Doctor and Clara leaned against the inside of the Tardis door, both breathing heavily. Clara, still reeling from the shock of finding a family of spiders living in her hair, looked around nervously.

"Are you sure? Remember that time with Orson Pink and the end of the universe?"

"That was different, and besides, whatever that was didn't get in did it?" steadying himself, The Doctor strides over to the Tardis console and starts to flip a few switches.

Suddenly the lighting changed, whereas before it was a light blue with orange, it was now dark green. He notices Clara still clinging to the door.

"Look, it does no good for you to be over there. Come here and help me for a second. Nothing can get through those doors, trust me."

"Oh but I think you might be mistaken, Doctor." Bug King's disembodied loud demonic voice boomed from the walls of the Tardis. The voice was all around them, trailing off behind Clara's head, swishing around the Doctor's ears.

"Doctor, you just said-" Clara's eyes grew wider as her fear increased with every word.

"Quiet!" he glares at Clara before looking upwards to speak, "How did you get in here?"

"Oh Doctor. Your ego knows no bounds. You thought you were safe, but my children see all. They see every single fabric of space and time. Just like you. They can see the pockets."

"Pockets?" Clara asked to no one

"Impossible." The Doctor replied, "That's absolutely…" The Doctor stops mid-sentence fumbling for his next words.

"Oh, but Doctor. You know it isn't. You know that there are structural weaknesses in your Tardis."

"I don't believe you. There is no way an entity made of energy could have bypassed the Tardis' security. No, what I think happened is much more simple and basic. You have a stowaway on board."

The Doctor then notices something crawling up a nearby bookcase. He crosses the console room swiftly and pulls out his sonic screwdriver. Igniting his sonic he points it directly at the spider crawling up his books which suspends it in midair in a bright blue square of pure sonic energy. The spider appears unamused, flailing it's legs trying to get a grip of something that's not there.

"Clever. Must have slipped past my feet on the way in." The Doctor carries the trapped spider to the console unit and, switching off his sonic, places it inside a clear container, "You want people to believe that you are some omnipotent being who can be everywhere at once. It's simply not true."

"Indeed. However, now that I'm here-" The Bug King's voice trails off as the Cloister Bell starts to sound. At the third sound of the bell, every single light in the Tardis goes dark as the console room turns pitch black.

"Doctor?"

"Clara! I'm over here! He must have disrupted the power flow from the main drive, clever. That was also supposed to be impossible."

"I can't see anything. Can you shine the sonic?"

"Yes, one second." the Doctor fiddles with then ignites his sonic and illuminates a small circular area around him, Clara runs over and hangs onto the Doctor's arm.

Suddenly, sounds of chattering insects emanate from all around the Doctor and Clara. They both look up towards the top of the Tardis' rotor and gasp in horror. As soon as the Doctor shines his sonic in that direction thousands of insects swarm out from where the rotor meets the ceiling. Then more start to pour out of the roundels and doorways near the top of the console room stairs. Clara screams as the Doctor grabs her arm and pulls her towards a nearby empty doorway. Insects start to rain from the ceiling as millions more explode into the console room as if a pipe burst and gallons of water were pouring in.

Before heading out of the doorway the Doctor yells out, "Extemporize!"

The Tardis interior lighting changes color to a mauve theme and a force field snaps into life around the center console. The insects start to climb onto the force field attempting to cover it to get to the console. The Doctor and Clara exit the console room with the doors sliding shut behind them. The Doctor turns to look through the window and watches as the console room slowly fills up with billions of insects. Every single space throughout the room is gorged with insects chattering and falling over themselves.

"I'm going to have to get some bug spray. This way." The Doctor enters the maze of corridors in the Tardis with Clara following close behind.


End file.
